Spaceport America

FILE- This Oct. 17, 2011 file photo shows British billionaire Sir Richard Branson drinking champagne after repelling down the side of the new Spaceport America hangar in Upham, N.M. As the nation's first launch station to send people to space nears completion, some see signs New Mexico may have reached for the stars _ and got stuck in the bad economy. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE- This Oct. 17, 2011 file photo shows British billionaire Sir Richard Branson drinking champagne after repelling down the side of the new Spaceport America hangar in Upham, N.M. As the nation's first launch station to send people to space nears completion, some see signs New Mexico may have reached for the stars _ and got stuck in the bad economy. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

British billionaire Richard Branson on Oct. 18, opened the world's first-ever commercial spaceport in the New Mexico desert, the new home for his company, Virgin Galactic. (Reuters)